


Filling in the Gaps - Tunnels

by Thefishoutofwater



Series: Filling in the Gaps [5]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 06:11:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13288677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thefishoutofwater/pseuds/Thefishoutofwater
Summary: Meeting someone new and building a relationship together means taking time to get to know each others friends and each others history. Is Jo really ready for that?Jo ponders Alex's very first months in Seattle.





	Filling in the Gaps - Tunnels

“Why can I not find an intern anywhere?” Stephanie Edwards slammed a tablet down on the nurse’s station opposite the OR board with more force than was either necessary or sensible,

“Should they not just be behind me when I need one? Isn’t that what we did? Hover, waiting to be useful?”

“Oh I don’t know they seem to travel in a pack unless you manage to peel one off.  Find one you’ll find them all. Are they out by the dumpsters?” Jo Wilson was dismissive of her friend as she surveyed the board for the day.

“I don’t think I should have to go looking for them. They should be wanting me to find them.” Edwards was insistent.

Behind the two younger women Meredith Grey and April Kepner exchanged wry smiles. There always came a point when residents forgot what being an intern was like.

“Try the linen storage space in the basement. Before we moved from Mercy that’s where Reed and I used to hang out.” April’s voice remained steady over her dead friend’s name.

“Maybe try the vents. Cristina used to like it down there.” Meredith’s voice was wistful.

“Looking for places to skive work?” Alex Karev joined the group.

“More like looking for our interns.” Edwards retorted

“On call room? Storage space behind the ORs? Oh what about the storage at the clinic – that’s pretty quiet on Mondays?”

“Not looking for places where you have hooked up.” Meredith pushed gently on his shoulder as she spoke.

In front of them Jo’s shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly. It was one thing knowing your boyfriend had been around a bit it was quite another to have it rubbed in your face.

“Thanks for that Doctor Grey,” she hoped she had hit the right tone, uninterested versus out and out dismissive.

“Oh, like you were any better?” Alex started to rebut not really helping Jo’s plight. 

“That’s enough of that.” April tried to shut the conversation down as she moved off back in the direction of the ER.

“Fine. Well what about the tunnels? That’s where we hung out.”

“Where are the tunnels?” Stephanie was confused but not heard as Meredith let out a rare laugh.

“The tunnels where you felt Cristina up?”

Jo and Stephanie both pivoted sharply to look at a smiling Meredith and surprisingly flustered looking Alex. He spluttered slightly, narrowing his eyes at his friend,

“That was not _that_. You know it.”

“Oh, I know. But your face,” another short peal of laughter, “it was when you…”

He interrupted quickly, gesturing to the avidly listening residents with a sharp tilt of his head,

“Enough Meredith.”

“You’re no fun.” She retorted, sauntering away the hint of a smile still firmly in place.

Alex took a deep breath and turned to the two,

“Had you better not go and find your interns before rounds then Doctors?” he attempted to dismiss them.

Stephanie took one look at Jo’s face and set off leaving her friend behind.

“Alex?” she queried gently, not quite sure where to start.

“Not now Jo.” His tone was kinder than the words, “not here.”

  

* * *

 

Alex turned the key in the engine to start the car as Jo clipped her buckle in place,

“So what was all that about?”

He rubbed a hand across his forehead tiredly. He’d hoped she might have forgotten the conversation over five hours prior.

“Yang and I never had a thing.”

“I know that,” She was scornful at his attempt to close the conversation down “I want to know what Dr Grey was going to say.”

He took a deep breath and switched engine off; turning to her,

“This is between us okay?”

“Just us and Dr Grey?”

He rolled his eyes,

“I mean you and I. Not for chit chat with Edwards. Not for bringing up again when you are tired, or I piss you off. Just one time. Just us.”

He reached out and took a hand, running his thumb across her palm until she nodded suddenly more serious.

“I failed my practical board just before I started here,” he held a finger up to indicate she should not jump in, “I was an ass back then,” a half smirk, “more of an ass then. I was scared, convinced I was done for. Anyway, Meredith found out and insisted on helping. Managed to get all of them to help me even though they couldn’t stand me.”

He stopped staring across the parking lot back towards the hospital with eyes that were not quite seeing,

“It was just before Christmas and suddenly I had these four people who would not even eat their lunch with me helping and rooting for me. It was weird. It had always been me and then they were. Forcing me to let them help. Even then you could tell Yang was going to be something and the other three were all happy, living together this little tight unit and then there they were giving up surgeries, giving up sleep to help me.”

He shook his head slightly and snapped back to the present,

“You get why I don’t want your peers to know?”

“Of course,” Jo was quick to agree, “say no more.”

She squeezed at the hand still holding her own as he reached back out for the key and started the car once more.

Jo leaned her head back against the head rest and shut her eyes as she played his words over again in her head, thinking not about his failed test but the vulnerability in his voice when he spoke about a time before he was part of his intimidatingly tight knit Grey Sloan family.


End file.
